Cam'ron - The Program

Cam'ron
The Program
2017
Spotify

You take a couple days off to celebrate Thanksgiving and suddenly there are new rap beefs from 2000 coming back to the surface and new experimental albums a plenty. If you're shocked to see a new Cam record in 2017 you probably are not from New York because for some reason He never lost his popularity in the City. It's almost cultish the amount of people who think Cam'ron is one of the best there ever was. I've never drank this kool-aid myself but many people I respect seem to fucking love the guy so I had to give it another shot. Well I hate to say it but I was right all along, this record is silly at best. The beats are so thin and so dated none of them ever come anywhere close to popping. On "Coleslaw" Cam'ron takes aim at Kanye with some truly foolish digs about his mental illness and live shows. In the past if Cam'ron was going after you it meant lyrics that were highly specific, delivered with little care and surreal to be point of being hilarious. That sense is no longer there. When Cam'ron said He was going to retire after his 2015 mixtape yet just like Jay-Z he comes back again. You keep expecting Cam to start giving a fuck about this album or at least give a fuck about what He has to say but it never happens. It's all lethargic and it's all a total sleepwalk from start to finish. Even the production, like just how it sounds in your ears is awful with the beat about 10 notches to low and Cam's voice the only desirable sound on the whole record. The inclusion of Bill Withers' "Lean on Me" as the beat for "Lean" feels so disrespectful and doesn't tie in with the song what so ever.

"Remember Game" which has an interesting idea of all the people who are constantly forcing nostalgia down our throats in practice is absolutely awful. The beat is seriously like three piano notes and a drum beat from Garageband. When Mimi comes in on the track she lays out this outlandish story about someone who made her get rid of a baby but also likes having her hair pulled and being choked during sex... It is just so much absolute insanity that none of it ever fucking connects. "Hallalujah" reveals the real story of the album when Cam says: "I'm not a rapper, I do this for leisure". The whole record feels like He is fucking around but at least "Hallalujah" has something to say and a decent beat to ride to. Honestly though, that is pretty much it, if you can find some other redeeming qualities to this record I'd be happy to hear about them. As it is The Program is uninspired, poorly produced and not the kind of record you'd like to ride off into the sunset with. I'm pretty sure Cam'ron won't let his career end on this one, but we'll just have to wait and see.

2.0 out of 10